Book 50, 2021

[chez_jae]

Occult and Battery by Lena Gregory

My rating: 4 of 5 stars



Wednesday night I finished reading Occult and Battery by Lena Gregory. It's the second book in the "Bay Island Psychic" mystery series. Story is told in third person pov from the perspective of the main character, Cass Donovan. Cass is a former psychiatrist who uses her training to "read" people as a psychic.

Cass has barely gotten her psychic shop, Mystic Musings, off the ground when winter hits Bay Island. With tourists in short supply, she's hoping to draw in more customers and business by hosting a seance and group reading at an allegedly haunted local mansion. The new owners plan to turn the mansion into a bed and breakfast, and they are eager for the publicity the weekend will bring. Cass' excitement about the weekend fades when her ex-husband, Donald, shows up along with his new fiancee...who also happens to be Cass' former best friend. Nevertheless, her staunch friends, Stephanie and Bee, are there to keep her spirits up.

The seance is going well until a winter storm knocks the electricity out, and one of the owners of the mansion is found hanging in the cupola. While his death appears to be suicide, Cass believes he was murdered. When someone comes to Cass and asks her to contact the victim and later ends up dead as well, it seems that the killer thinks Cass may know more than she does. Now she needs to avoid a killer and solve the murders before anyone else ends up dead.

The story was interesting. I liked it better than the first one in the series. I especially like that Cass appears to possess some actual psychic abilities, although she is in denial. Bee is an absolute hoot, and I admire how Stephanie always has Cass' back. I would have enjoyed the story more, however, if my logic-brain hadn't kicked in.


- First of all, as a psychiatrist, Cass would also be a doctor, yet the sight of dead bodies and blood makes her woozy? She had to go to medical school before branching into psychiatry! Does the author not know the difference between a psychiatrist and a psychologist? Research it!
- Once again, allow me to point out that suicide does not automatically negate the payout of the death benefit on a life insurance policy. Policies usually have suicide clauses, which specify the benefit won't be paid in the event of a suicide, but the typical time frame for such clauses is two years. Research! It annoys me when authors make assumptions like that.
- So, Cass rolled her car over on icy roads and was rendered unconscious, but the person who found her didn't call an ambulance? WTF? You don't just remove someone that badly injured from the car and take them somewhere safe. Good grief. Better yet, Cass was mostly fine the following day? That seems implausible.
- Cass' dog passed an obviously expensive diamond ring, which she just tossed in the trash. She only told the vet because she was concerned about the dog. You don't think that may have been a clue?
- Speaking of clues, for as much as I love cozy mysteries and amateur sleuths, why do they so often return to the scene of the crime, convinced they can find a clue that the trained police missed? Ugh.
- Why did the killer hustle another character away from a crowd and cold-cock her, intending to kill her later? Do you think you'll get the opportunity once she recovers? As a plot device, that was inane.

Favorite line: "Nice to know you guys were going to leave me here alone."
Lame, but nothing else really jumped out at me.

Characters were well-developed, including Cass' odious exes, and the plot moved along at a good tempo. In spite of my grievances with the less-than-logical aspects, I'm giving this one a four.